PUNE: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader
Prithviraj Chavan
on Wednesday said that the
anti-defection law
must change. He was interacting with mediapersons in Pune on Wednesday after the
verdict
. "It has taken more than one and half months for the verdict. Voters in the
constituencies
of these
MLAs
have been confused as they did not know if the MLA they had voted for is with the same party or if he or she has defected.
It is justice denied," Chavan said.
He pointed to lacuna in the anti-defection law. "According to the law, the verdict on the disqualification pleas of 16 MLAs should be delivered by the speaker of the legislative assembly appointed by a political party. That is why there was a delay in the verdict. The whole purpose of the current law had been defeated. Hence, it should change," Chavan said.
On INDIA alliance's preparation for the Lok Sabha election, Chavan said, "MVA leaders met in Delhi on Tuesday and discussed how to accommodate like-minded parties. The next round of meetings will take place on January 18-19 where seat sharing for 48 seats in Maharashtra is expected to be finalised."
He said BJP may try to split the state Congress before the polls. "We have seen it with Sena and NCP. They will do it with us too, but won't succeed," he said.
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